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Lesson 2 Rhythm
2.3 Time Signature Revisited
Now that we have learned the basic rhythmic values, we are ready to return to the time signature and learn what the bottom number tells us. As you will recall, the top number tells us how many beats are in each measure or bar of music. The bottom number tells us what kind of rhythmic value gets one beat.
In the examples we have seen up to this point, we have always had a 4 in
the bottom of the time signature. This tells us that we tap our foot once
for each quarter note (or anything that adds up to a quarter note) in the
music. Notice that if a note is longer than a quarter note, we must tap our
foot more than once before moving on to the next note. For example, a half
note would require two beats (foot taps) and the whole note would require
four beats.
Even though a 4 is the most common number for the bottom of the time signature
it can actually be any rhythmic value we have just learned. Let's start
with an 8. This means that you must tap your foot for each eighth note that
passes in the music. A time signature of 4/8 would have four beats in each
measure but the beats would be eight notes. This sounds just like our 4/4
example but looks quite different. Notice that the quarter notes that used
to get one beat each now gets two beats!
If we make the number on the bottom of the time signature a 2 then we would
tap our foot for each passing half note. The quarter note which used to
get one beat each now only gets half a beat and it takes two to complete
a full beat. Now the quarter note sounds like our eighth notes in 4/4 time.
Notice that we have also made the top number a 2 which means we must have
a total of 2 half notes (or the equivalent in other note values) in each
measure. |
Please continue with the next lesson.
2.1 The Time Signature & The Measure » 2.2 Notes Larger Than A Beat
» 2.3 Time Signature Revisited
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